[23]
Above the territory of the Abydeni, in the Troad, lies Astyra. This city, which is in ruins, now belongs to the Abydeni, but in earlier times it was independent and had gold mines. These mines are now scant, being used up, like those on Mt. Tmolus in the neighborhood of the Pactolus River. From Abydus to the Aesepus the distance is said to be about seven hundred stadia, but less by straight sailing.1
1 According to Leaf (l.c., p. 135, the shortest course of a vessel between Abydus and the mouth of the Aesepus measures just about 700 stadia. Hence Strabo's authorities for his statement are in error if, as usual, the longer voyage is a coasting voyage, following the sinuosities of the gulfs, as against the shorter, or more direct, voyage. Leaf, however, forces the phrase "by straight sailing" to mean "a straight course wholly over the land," adding that "the meaning must be that it would be shorter if one would sail straight," and that "the expression is singularly infelicitous as applied to a journey by land in contrast to one by sea."
Strabo. ed. H. L. Jones, The Geography of Strabo. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
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